Srinagar, July 18 (IANS) Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Kavinder Gupta took oath of office as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh on Friday.

Chief Justice of J&K and Ladakh High Court, Justice Arun Palli, administered the oath of office to Gupta in Leh town of the Ladakh region.

The CEOs of Leh and Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Councils, MP from Ladakh Haji Mohmad Haneefa Jan, the chief secretary, DGP, administrative secretaries and other dignitaries attended the ceremony at Raj Niwas in Leh town.

Gupta was appointed the Lieutenant Governor by President Droupadi Murmu after she accepted the resignation of Brig (Retd) Dr B.D. Mishra as Ladakh L-G.

Mishra was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh in February 2023.

Gupta’s appointment has come ahead of the next round of talks between the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ladakh leaders next week. The leaders of Ladakh are demanding 6th Schedule status, statehood with a legislature and separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh UT.

Gupta is the third Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh UT since it was carved out from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.

He served as Deputy Chief Minister of the PDP-BJP coalition government in 2018. He has also served as the Speaker of the J&K Legislative Assembly and Mayor of Jammu. 65-year-old Gupta joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at the age of 13. He was jailed for thirteen months during the Emergency.

Gupta served as the secretary of the Punjab unit of the Vishva Hindu Parishad from 1978 to 1979. He also served as the chief of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha from 1993 to 1998.

He was elected mayor of the city of Jammu for a record three consecutive terms, from 2005 to 2010.

In the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election, he contested as a member of the BJP and was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the Gandhinagar constituency. He defeated Raman Bhalla of the Indian National Congress, the incumbent.

On March 19, 2015, Gupta was elected Speaker of the Assembly. He also became the first ever Bharatiya Janata Party leader to be appointed as the Speaker.

Gupta was appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state as part of a cabinet reshuffle on April 30, 2018. He succeeded Nirmal Kumar Singh.

On June 19, 2018, Gupta resigned from the post of Deputy Chief Minister after the BJP withdrew from the alliance with PDP.

–IANS

sq/dpb